The 2023 Nordic Health survey revealed high stress levels among the Nordic population, and unfortunately, this trend has continued into 2024. Long-term stress has risen significantly. In some cases, stress affects work, and most employees feel they receive insufficient support from their employers.
Not to add to your stress, but things are not looking great. Stress levels across the Nordics are on the rise. More and more of us have experienced negative stress during long periods of time. This is the second year that If has investigated health in the Nordics through several different parameters. We have asked over 4 000 people in the Nordic countries about their perceived health and how their health has affected their work but also how their work has affected their health.
Last year, there were some worrying results especially concerning negative stress. Eight in ten experienced negative stress. Sad to say, in this year’s survey, most of the worrying trends have been reinforced. Now, almost nine out of ten experience negative stress, and even more people have suffered from stress for a long time. More people experience negative stress both short- and long term, more people have trouble sleeping and experience that stress affects their work ability in a negative way.
In this report, we dig into Nordic stress, what is causing the stress and its consequences. Let’s briefly summarize a few of the key takeaways.
The Nordic countries are similar in many ways – even our healthcare systems bear a striking resemblance. But there are important differences that our survey identifies. It may not always be clear why these differences have arisen. In some cases there are for sure an institutional explanation such as why sick leave numbers are lower in Denmark, due to weaker employment protection for employees. In other cases, the explanation is more likely cultural. Or other changes in the environment. For example, stress levels are lower in Denmark but they are growing faster than in the other countries.
Still, the differences are sometimes striking. In Finland, 36 percent say that worries about their own financial situation is the main stress trigger, in Norway only 9 percent. And twice as many in Norway as in Finland turn to public healthcare when experiencing mental health issues.
One thing that holds true in all countries is that public sector employees are more likely to suffer from negative stress, both in the short term and the long term.
The most common triggers of stress are private issues and work-life balance. This is closely followed by people saying that their own financial situation is their main trigger for negative stress. Also, quite many people say that their primary trigger of negative stress is their work life.
Interestingly, this varies greatly between the Nordic countries, with the proportion primarily worried about money is four times greater in Finland than in Norway. Norwegians, on the other hand, are much more likely to identify work-life balance than the other countries. 42 percent say that this – the juggling of work, life, grocery shopping, children’s activities and everything else – is the main trigger of stress. That is twice the proportion in Finland (20 percent) and Denmark (21 percent), and significantly higher than in Sweden (25 percent) as well.
In society, we need to do more to address the issue of mental illness.
"As an employer, you have an incredibly large responsibility for your employees’ health, and when people are struggling it is usually a combination of things that causes someone to feel bad. As an employer, you can support your employee but also make it worse if you don't take care of it in the right way", says Caroline Christensen, Financial manager, Trafiksystem Väst AB, Sweden.
Nordic employers have a far-reaching responsibility when it comes to their employees’ health. But among the employees who sought support from their employers when experiencing mental wellbeing issues, only 21 percent say that they received sufficient support, 23 percent feel they received no support at all, and 21 percent did receive support but not to a sufficient extent.
44 percent of employees across the Nordics have access to support from their employer for physical activity. Most common is a health benefit (28 percent). 10 percent have a gym in the workplace. But a quarter of all employees don't use any of these benefits at all. Employers are responsible for the workplace environment. Yet, 24 percent of the respondents in the survey have experienced demeaning treatment at work. This should be zero! It’s most common in Denmark (30 percent) and women and young people are more exposed.
A third of the Nordic population (35 percent) is worried about having to be on sick leave for a long time. Differences between countries may have an institutional explanation, in how well the safety nets are designed. Norwegians also seem generally less concerned about financial issues. Less than half of people across the Nordics (46 percent) trust that they will receive quick care if they become ill or injured. Almost as many, 42 percent, say that they do not trust the public healthcare systems. This is particularly evident in Sweden and Finland.
As many as 44 percent say that they are willing to pay for preventive health services, to supplement the public healthcare system. The number is the highest in Norway, and has grown the fastest, from 39 to 51 percent in just one year.
The fact that almost half of the population is willing to pay for complementary preventive healthcare services is interesting, as it is much higher than the proportion covered by Healthcare Insurance today. In Sweden, for example, 39 percent say that they are willing to pay for complementary services, but only 7 percent are covered by a private Healthcare Insurance. This is an indication that private alternatives have an important role to play.
One interesting finding is that most people believe that working from home is good for their health, but those working from home experience more negative stress than those who never work from home. We will come back to this later in the report. This is an interesting discrepancy that should help employers find their own way into the New Normal.
Is working from home blurring the line of work and family life and increasing the stress levels, or is working from home a way to handle stress? Perhaps a hybrid work model requires even clearer expectations, regular follow-up calls and active team building efforts.
Women are worst affected by negative stress (93 percent compared to 85 men) but the levels are alarming high for both genders. More women express concern about illness and sick leave. One explanation is that women are generally overrepresented in the public sector and men in the private sector, where we also see higher levels. Women are also consistently more likely to experience long-term negative stress. They are also more exposed to demeaning treatment at work. One aspect with no significant difference between gender, in any of the countries, is regarding financial worry. 22 percent regardless of gender identify money worry as their main stress trigger.
Regarding trust, less women trust public healthcare to support with fast access to healthcare than men (47/37). About the same share women/men would consider paying for health services that can prevent illness for them (43/45). And there are also small differences on how the respondents think that their health has been positively affected by the hybrid working life compared to before the pandemic. 54 percent among women and 57 percent among men while only 7 percent of all thought their health had been affected in a negative way.
Wrapping up the report, we are looking forward and describe four trends within health that we believe will impact the Nordic countries in the near future: digitalization, artificial intelligence (AI), the hybrid work model and the rise of Healthcare Insurance. Download the full Nordic Health 2024 report.